The Lesson of Self-control
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Dear friend,
The lesson of self-control which you are trying to learn, is never an easy one. In fact, it is the great lesson of life. It is a lesson we should always try to learn. Nothing can make one more weak, or put one more in peril at every point — than the lack of self-control. These runaway tongues of ours, are worse than wild horses when they get started! You remember what James says about the tongue in his little Epistle. He makes it out to be a very unruly member indeed, full of fearful power to hurt others. I need not, however, dilate upon this, nor write an essay upon the sins of the tongue.
What I want to say, is that you must not be discouraged because you have not yet succeeded in learning to control yourself. You remember the old saying, "If at first you don't succeed — try, try again." This is a teaching which we should always keep with us. However often we may fail — we should start over again, determined to master. Conquest is very slow, and it takes a long time to get the mastery. We have recently had in our Sunday-school lessons, the story of Moses. After forty years in Egypt, when he had had the best training that any man could get, he showed himself utterly incapable of self-government. His quick temper and rashness got him into trouble, for he killed an Egyptian in his anger. He was then compelled to flee away from Egypt, sacrificing everything he had toiled for all these forty years. This suggests the terrible harm, the lack of self-control sometimes does one. It costs tremendously.
But you remember also that God took Moses then, and kept him for forty years in the wilderness as a shepherd with a flock of sheep. During those forty years, Moses learned self-control and came back at eighty years of age and led his people out of Egypt. During forty years more of the most terrible trials any man ever had, Moses never once lost his temper until near the very close of the period, when again, in a sore trial, he did lose control of himself and spoke unadvisedly. What I want to show to you is that even great men, like Moses, have found long and sore discipline necessary, before they could learn the lesson which you say you have not yet learned.
There is one little sentence, however, in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews which gives the secret of Moses' victory over himself, that "he endured as seeing Him who is invisible!" Hebrews 11:27. That is, Moses always remembered that God was right beside him, his friend to help him — and this made him strong. He did not actually see God — but it was as if he saw Him. That is, he realized the divine presence in all his life, and learned his lessons under this blessed influence.
If you saw Christ standing beside you all the time, it would not be hard for you to keep sweet, to keep control of temper and speech. Well, Christ IS beside you — just as really as he was beside Mary when she sat at his feet in Bethany, or beside Peter and the other disciples as they walked together over the hills of Judea and Galilee. What you need, is to realize this fact. We know that God is present with us all the time, at every moment, by day or by night. He is closer than any human friend can be to us. Indeed, we are to practice His presence — that is, we are to live all the time, as if we actually saw Him!
I have said enough to help you in this direction. Think it out for yourself. You must remember that Christ is always besides you, not only to see you — but to help you, as your truest and best Friend — and you will soon get the mastery.
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